


Strike It Up With the Gang

by 30degreesandsnowing



Category: All For the Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Family, Fluff, Friendship, Humor, M/M, got it, i feel like i need another f tag
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-14
Updated: 2016-09-14
Packaged: 2018-08-14 22:35:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,709
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8031586
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/30degreesandsnowing/pseuds/30degreesandsnowing
Summary: The most awkward double date in history, wherein Kevin and Neil learn how to bowl, Andrew threatens people with knives, Nicky speaks in terrible pet names, Erik is trying to appreciate Nicky's weird family, and Aaron wonders how he got talked into third (sixth?) wheeling things.





	Strike It Up With the Gang

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt fic for Tumblr!Anon. Thank you, nonnie! You're a wonderful person. This was exactly what I needed to survive a pretty terrible night.
> 
> I looked up bowling puns for the title. Most of them were too long, but I stole this one from brandongaille.com

It started innocently enough. Nicky said, “Neil, we should double date when Erik’s in town for graduation!”

Neil, who was trying not to think about Andrew graduating and failing utterly because Nicky was talking about it, said, “I guess,” and went back to moping over his half-strung racquet.

“Great!” Nicky exclaimed, dark eyes alight. “This’ll be awesome! I’ve got it all planned out!”

That was in March. It was now May. Kevin was in town for commencement and to help move Andrew to Cincinnati. Neil and Andrew had kicked their roommate out of the dorm for the week so they could say thank you. They were saying thank you quite enthusiastically, all three of them tangled up on Andrew’s bed, wet open kisses and bare skin on skin, when phones started going off.

First Neil’s. Then Andrew’s. Then Neil’s, again, and then someone started pounding on the dorm room door.

“Something important?” Kevin asked. He only pulled back a fraction, so his words chilled the skin he’d been sucking a moment before.

Andrew shivered, and put his hand on the back of Kevin’s head. “No.” He pulled Kevin down and Kevin’s lips brushed against his collarbone.

There was a flash of light. Neil said, “Hold that for a moment,” and took another picture. He put the camera down, and settled against Kevin’s spine. “Okay, continue,” he said cheerfully, putting his hands on Kevin’s hips.

The knocking continued even louder. Nicky started shouting in counterpoint. “Come on, Neil, you promised!”

Andrew and Kevin looked at Neil. Andrew glared suspiciously over Kevin’s shoulder. Kevin twisted around as best he could. Both of them looked distinctly unimpressed.

Wide-eyed with confusion, Neil shrugged. “I have no idea what he’s talking about. I thought Erik was coming in today.”

“He did,” Andrew said.

“Shouldn’t they be busy, then?” Kevin said.

“ _We’re_ busy,” Andrew reminded them. He pulled Kevin back around to kiss him.

Somehow that turned into the three of them at a bowling alley with Nicky, Erik, and Aaron.

_(“Go away, Nicky.”)_

_(“Oh, I didn’t know Kevin was in town. The teams will be uneven. Maybe Aaron’s free?”)_

_(“Neil, I’m going to disembowel you and use your intestines to gag him.”)_

_(“This is why I should have gotten a hotel.”_

_(“Andrew, he’s moving to Germany. This might be the last time you see him in years.”)_

_(“If only I was that lucky.”)_

It only got worse from there. In the middle of exam week, the bowling alley was deserted except for employees. All the lanes looked sad and empty. There was dust in the corners, and the floor was slightly sticky. The six of them approached the rental counter with varying degrees of trepidation.

“What do you mean, we need to rent shoes?” Kevin demanded. He looked at Neil, as though Neil had any idea what he was doing.

“It might be a joke?” Neil looked to Andrew for more information. It was a fool’s hope.

Andrew ignored them both in favor of staring at his phone. He must have been texting Renee, since everyone else he talked to was in the building with him.

Nicky said, “Don’t tell me neither of you have been bowling.” He was holding hands with Erik and smiling hard enough his face looked like it might crack in half. He kept calling Erik obnoxious pet names every thirty seconds or so. Neil kept half an eye on his watch; right on time, Nicky batted his eyelashes at Erik and said, “Little Bear of Love, tell me at least you’ve been bowling?”

Neil choked. Nicky didn’t notice, too busy staring adoringly up at Erik, but Kevin thoughtfully pounded his back. It sent Neil staggering into Andrew. Andrew didn’t bother looking up from his phone, though he did put out a hand to steady Neil.

“Can we get on with this?” Aaron asked from the back of the group. “I have an actual date tonight.”

“You could have invited Katelyn,” Nicky said, pulling away from Erik to look at Aaron.

Aaron (and Andrew, for that matter) looked disgusted at the very idea. He would have been better off sneaking out the door behind their backs, but Nicky _was_ leaving the country. Even Aaron might miss him. That was Neil’s theory, anyway, as to why Aaron was crashing what was likely to be the worst and most awkward double date in history.

“They have a bar,” Kevin said quietly, his eyes lighting upon the far wall. An exhausted bartender was attacking a six inch thick textbook with a highlighter. 

Neil and Andrew each reached out and grabbed one of Kevin’s hands.

“No,” said Andrew.

“We have plans for tonight,” Neil pointed out.

“Are you telling me you don’t need a drink to get through this farce?” Kevin appealed directly to Andrew.

Andrew let go of Kevin’s hand.

“Traitor,” Neil muttered, as Kevin pulled free of him and made a beeline for the bar.

“Thank God,” Aaron said, and followed after Kevin.

“I still need your shoe sizes,” the woman behind the counter reminded them.

Things Neil learned: Andrew and Aaron took children’s shoe sizes, which pissed Aaron off, but Andrew didn’t care; even with Erik standing right there, Nicky was incapable of not making a dick joke about Kevin’s size 13’s; Erik thought dick jokes were super funny; bowling alleys wouldn’t let you rent shoes unless you gave them another pair as collateral; bowling shoes were weird and uncomfortable; and Erik thought Kevin was dating Aaron, not Andrew and Neil.

“They are very cute together,” Erik confided in Neil as they sat on a bench changing their shoes. “I was surprised when Nicky mentioned that they had found each other. I know Aaron made life difficult for Nicky a few years ago. I suppose it was just fear of himself.”

He was speaking in English, since Nicky had explained that not everyone was fluent in German. For a long moment, Neil thought he’d mixed his own languages up. He looked again at Kevin and Aaron at the bar. Kevin had his Public Face on as he chatted, and Aaron was staring intently as the bartender put together their tray. They barely looked like they knew each other.

Neil started to correct him, but Nicky stole Erik’s attention by dropping into his lap and kissing him.

“Huggy Berry Pie,” Nicky said.

Neil hasted to his feet and crossed to the lanes. Andrew fell into step beside him. Their matching clown shoes were slippery on the floor.

“Nicky told Erik that Kevin’s dating Aaron,” Neil said, sliding into the scorekeeper’s seat at the furthest end of the room. There was a table directly behind him that Andrew claimed by virtue of sitting on top of it and slumping against the wall with his feet dangling over the edge. It gave him an almost unimpeded view of the alley, including the bar.

Andrew blinked slowly. “Kevin can date whoever he wants,” he said, but he looked at where Kevin and Aaron were bringing back two trays of alcohol and frowned.

“I don’t think Kevin wants to date Aaron,” Neil said meditatively. “We could ask?”

“Kevin,” Andrew said, as Kevin and Aaron put the drinks on the next closest table. “Do you want to date Aaron?”

“What?!” Aaron sputtered. “No! Not ever!” He crossed his arms defensively over his chest.

“Katelyn will be glad to hear that,” Neil said, looking over his shoulder at the two of them. “Kevin?”

Kevin had already drank half a glass of beer. He said, “I’ve had nightmares where I mixed the two of them up.” He drained the rest of the beer and put the empty mug back on the table.

“Hey!” Aaron glared at Kevin.

Neil grinned. “Really?”

“No,” Kevin said, leaning over Neil’s shoulder to see what he was doing. “But now I might.”

Aaron sat down at the table and glowered down into his beer.

“Relax, Aaron, I think we’ve settled it that Kevin has no interest in you,” Andrew smirked. 

“Do you have any idea what you’re doing?” Kevin asked Neil.

Neil looked back to the screen in front of him “Not really,” he admitted. “But it seems to be pretty self explanatory. Teams. Names. Bumpers?” He looked up Kevin. Kevin looked back.

“Stop right now!” Nicky yelled, dragging Erik toward them by the hand. “We are two-times division one champions! We don’t need bumpers!”

Kevin automatically corrected him. “Three times.”

“Ravens don’t count,” Neil and Nicky chorused.

Nicky held out his free hand to Neil for a high five. Neil stared at him until he put it away. He hadn’t forgotten the Andrew-Aaron-Kevin mix-up.

Nicky pouted. “And you two. Go get your shoes,” he commanded Aaron and Kevin. “You aren’t supposed to be on the alley floor without bowling shoes.”

After looking at Neil’s feet, Kevin said “I’ll pass.”

Andrew cleared his throat. Kevin rolled his eyes and muttered something unkind under his breath, but he went and got the shoes. Aaron followed after. While they were busy, Nicky looked at what Neil had done with the scorecard.

“Oh, that’s boring. Haven’t you at least seen movies?” Nicky asked.

“Boring?” Neil asked blankly.

“The names! You’re supposed to put in something funny, not just normal things.” Nicky looked at Erik for support.

“This is your show, sweetheart,” Erik said.

Nicky blinked. “Oh,” he said, “This is fun, though. Right, Honey Bunny Buckles?”

Erik put his arms around Nicky. “I’m glad I get to spend time with you and your family,” he murmured.

Then they were kissing again. Andrew tapped Neil’s shoulder and nodded at the rack of bowling balls. Neil followed him, grateful for some distance. Nicky was a lot to deal with on a good day. Today, bubbly and effusive from Erik’s visit, he was worse than usual. Neil could use a distraction.

The bowling balls shone under the flourescent lights. Neil picked up the first one he saw. 

“Which one are you supposed to pick?” he asked Andrew, as Andrew was carefully going through the balls.

Andrew hefted a blue and gold ball a couple times in his right hand. “One you can throw.”

Neil looked at the rack, and then at Andrew. “I thought they rolled down the lane?”

“Underhand throw that ends in a roll,” Andrew said.

Something he could throw. Neil had pretty good aim, but it might be good to go for something a little lighter than the sparkly green one he was holding. He traded it for a bright red ball and considered it carefully. It wasn’t like he couldn’t change it out later, right? He replaced it on the rack.

“Made up your mind?” Andrew asked.

“I have no idea what I’m doing,” Neil said.

“It’s not rocket science.”

Neil stuck his tongue out at Andrew. Andrew’s gaze darkened, and just for a moment Neil thought he might lean in and kiss him. He dismissed the thought immediately. He didn’t actually want the kind of PDA Nicky seemed to crave, and Andrew knew that. It was just that it had been 6 weeks since the three of them were together, and the sudden nearness was a little overpowering. Neil understood why Nicky had dragged them all out, but it really would have been nice if he’d waited another hour.

“We should head back,” Andrew said abruptly.

Neil dragged his eyes away from Andrew’s mouth. “Yeah.” he agreed, slightly hoarse.

Andrew’s fingers were white knuckled on the ball in his hand. He turned away. Neil couldn’t blame him. He grabbed the first ball he saw off the rack and followed Andrew back to their tables.

Aaron and Kevin had returned and sat down at the second table. They appeared to be dividing up all the drinks they had bought between them. Neil dropped into the seat beside Kevin and held out his purple bowling ball for inspection.

“We have to throw it,” Neil told Kevin. He took the diet coke can that lay abandoned in the center of the table. Kevin looked at the ball, shrugged, and took another sip of beer.

“You’re going to be awful at this,” Aaron predicted.

“It’s bowling,” Kevin objected. “It’s not like it matters.”

“It isn’t Exy,” Neil said to tease Kevin, but Kevin just nodded seriously.

“Exactly,” Kevin said. “Which reminds me -”

“No!” Aaron and Andrew and Nicky all chorused.

“Nicky banned work talk,” Erik said. He grinned at Kevin. Kevin glared back so coldly even Erik faltered.

It was going to be a long night.

The first game was a disaster for Neil’s team. Andrew, to no one’s surprise, either got a strike or utterly failed to knock over a single pin. The handful of drinks Kevin downed plus his very Andrew-like apathy about the game meant most of his throws ended up in the gutter. Neil was more interested in getting Andrew to open up about his previous bowling experiences than his own current experience, so he didn’t even notice if he knocked a pin over or threw a gutterball. 

_(“When did you bowl before?”)_

_(“There were programs for troubled children.”)_

_(“Were you on a team? There are bowling teams, right?”)_

_(“Go take your turn before Nicky explodes.”)_

_(“Did you like it? Bowling, I mean.”)_

_(“942%”)_

_(“I’ll take that as a yes.”)_

Nicky, Aaron, and Erik, on the other hand, did much better. It came out that Nicky used to bowl with his church group in high school. Aaron never got a strike, but he also never left more than three pins standing. And Erik was better than both of them.

“Great game!” Nicky said, once the final scores were tallied. “Butterfly Baby Heart, you’re really good at this. Why didn’t I know that?”

Aaron edged away from them. “I was promised pizza,” he said, looking from Nicky to Andrew. “I didn’t agree to come just for free drinks.”

“You would have, though,” Kevin pointed out.

“But I didn’t,” Aaron said.

Andrew tossed Aaron his wallet. “Take Nicky and order enough for all of us,” he said. “Kevin, Neil, pick out heavier weights. I’ve seen toddlers get higher scores.”

Neil stared at that unusual display of interest, but Kevin grabbed his hand and dragged him back to the ball rack. As Aaron hooked an arm through Nicky’s and dragged him away, he got it.

“I didn’t think he had a problem with Erik,” Neil said. He put the purple ball back and started going through the rest of them. It was a little easier to understand what he was looking for, now that he’d actually bowled.

“I don’t know if they’ve ever met for more than a few minutes,” Kevin said, also studying the selection.

“What’s he saying?” Neil asked, glancing over his shoulder.

“At a guess?” Kevin shrugged. “He’s probably not actually holding a knife on him.”

“If he is, I get to sit in your lap on the way home,” Neil said. He was going to either way. The drive over had been twenty minutes of pure misery. Andrew was rewarding Kevin’s visit with passenger seat privileges. That left four people to squash themselves into the three seater bench in the back. Even with Aaron and Neil as two of the four, it was awful.

Kevin smiled down at him. “Agreed,” he said. They shook on it. 

Instead of pulling his hand away, Neil squeezed it tightly. “I’m glad you’re here,” Neil told him.

“I miss you, too,” Kevin said. He tucked a lock of hair behind Neil’s ear.

“You completely misunderstand me,” Neil said, stroking his thumb over the scars on the back of Kevin’s captured hand. “I’m glad you’re around so I’m not the worst bowler here.”

“Is that a challenge, Neil?” Kevin asked, his voice going slow and deep.

Neil snorted. “When are you ever a challenge?”

Kevin sneered. “You’re on,” was all he said.

They returned to the balls, comically intense.

When they finally made their way back to the tables, it was to a pale and slightly hollow-eyed Erik. Andrew had joined Nicky and Aaron at the bar to supervise or take his wallet back; it was unclear which. Erik kept giving him nervous glances over his shoulder. When Neil and Kevin sat down across from him, he jumped.

“Oh!” Erik said. “You’re back.” He swallowed twice.

Neil pushed one of the remaining beers toward him. “You look like you need this,” he said neutrally.

Erik took the glass in shaking fingers. “Is Andrew always so -” he groped for the word. Neil didn’t know if he was trying to remember the correct English, or just had no idea how to finish that sentence without being massively insulting. He tried to help.

“Unsettling?” Neil offered.

“Terrifying,” Kevin supplied.

“Overprotective,” Neil tried.

“Violent,” Kevin suggested.

“Violent’s good,” Neil said. “Do you mean violent?”

“He’s carrying a knife!” Erik said, wild-eyed.

Neil leaned back in his seat, satisfied. “Ha!” he said to Kevin. “I win.”

Kevin grumbled, but there was no heat to it.

“And the two of you know about the knife,” Erik said. He muttered, “Dammit, Nicky said they were all crazy,” in German.

“It’s true,” Neil said. “But if you want Nicky, you’re going to have to deal with it.”

Erik’s eyes snapped to Neil’s. “I see,” he said slowly. A hesitant smile broke across his face. “Did I pass?”

“It wasn’t a test,” Neil protested.

Erik gave him a look.

“It wasn’t,” Kevin said firmly. “If you think it was, you should leave now.”

“I’m not going to do that,” Erik said, almost before Kevin finished speaking. “Never.”

“Good,” said Neil.

Kevin rolled his eyes. “You’d be better off running,” he informed Erik, but he was holding Neil’s hand under the table.

Though second game was another rout, this time it was in Neil, Kevin, and Andrew’s favor. Kevin had switched to soda. Neil spent minutes lining up each swing. Andrew didn’t do anything differently, and got exactly the same score. With Kevin and Neil actually trying, it was no contest.

Nicky frowned the second time Kevin scored a strike. “Did you hustle us?”

Kevin didn’t even look at him, just centered himself on the lane and repeated the trick.

Nicky looked at Andrew. “Did you put him up to this?”

Andrew also ignored him. He was halfway through his third slice of pizza, and showed no signs of slowing down.

Nicky turned to Neil. Before he could say anything, Neil cut him off.

“Don’t tell me you made a bet on this game?” Neil smirked over his own pizza.

Nicky nodded unhappily. “Whoever wins this game has to get the car detailed this week.” 

Neil looked at the score. “That was really stupid of you,” he said.

“I hate you,” Nicky told him.

Erik put his arm around Nicky. “They did pay for dinner,” he pointed out.

“You’ve never seen Andrew’s standards for car care,” Nicky said, and put his face against Erik’s shoulder. Erik started petting him and whispering German endearments. They were almost as bad as Nicky’s.

The final score was approximately 10 zillion to 1. Andrew seemed pleased. Nicky was less so. Neil didn’t care about the team score; he was more concerned with his competition with Kevin. That one had ended in a tie.

“Rematch?” Kevin asked doubtfully.

“Maybe on court tonight,” Neil said.

Kevin grinned like a shark. “Perfect,” he said.

Andrew grabbed both of them by the back of their necks. “No,” he said firmly.

“Maybe tomorrow night,” Neil amended.

“Stop flirting,” Aaron called at them. “No one wants to see that.”

Neil flipped him off. Andrew dragged them both off to get their shoes back. The bowling alley had not, as Kevin darkly whispered might happen, lost their shoes. The woman in charge of shoe rentals did mention that they had a bin of lost and unmatched sneakers customers could look through, in the event someone’s shoes did go missing. The look of horror on Kevin’s face at this precious gem of information caused Neil to collapse into laughter.

Andrew kicked him gently in the side. “I’m fairly certain you don’t want to be rolling around on the floor, here.”

Kevin looked sick. “I’m absolutely certain you aren’t getting near me tonight without showering.”

“We washed the floors last month!” The employee looked affronted.

Neil scrambled to his feet, wiping his eyes and still grinning. He tried to lean against Kevin, but Kevin backed away and put Aaron between them.

“Don’t even think about it,” Kevin said.

“Are we all set?” Nicky asked. He and Erik had been lagging behind because they kept stopping to kiss. Nicky had his arm around Erik’s waist, and even now Erik was looking down at him was a soppy smile on his face.

Neil was 90% sure he never looked at Kevin or Andrew that way. 85% sure. Maybe 70%. At least, not in public.

“We were all set three hours ago,” Aaron muttered.

Nicky hit Aaron on the back of the head. “Shut up. You had fun. I caught you smiling twice.”

“Smirking,” Aaron objected. “I was laughing at Neil.”

“See? You had fun!” Nicky said. He turned appealing eyes to Neil. “Group photo before we go?”

“Bastard,” Kevin said. Neil might have gone a bit photo happy this last year, trying to make sure he’d have something of his friends next year. A collage of amateur photographs might not actually be Andrew smoking on the roof, or Matt playing Super Mario on the couch, or Allison braiding Renee’s hair, but it was something.

Also, Nicky had informed Neil he needed to decorate his own dorm room next year, because Nicky and Andrew weren’t going to be around to do it for him.

Neil pulled his camera out of his pocket. He looked at the shoe rental woman. “Would you mind?” he asked, holding out his camera.

The woman (her name tag said Joan) took the camera with a long suffering sigh. “Alright,” she said, and gestured that they should huddle up.

Neil grabbed Andrew. Nicky grabbed Aaron and Kevin. Erik followed easily enough.

“Twins and Neil in front!” Nicky said, pushing people around to arrange them.

“Kevin should stand behind Aaron,” Erik said.

“What? Why -” Aaron started to say, but Nicky paid no heed and shoved him next to Neil.

“I hate all of you,” Andrew mentioned conversationally, but he allowed Neil to position him in front of Kevin.

Nicky linked arms with Erik and Kevin in the back row. “Okay, we’re ready!” he said.

“Say ‘cheese’,” Joan said unenthusiastically.

“Are your cousins in the right spot?” Erik whispered to Nicky.

“Cheese,” the rest of the group chorused with varying degrees of energy.

The second Joan lowered the camera, their carefully organized group dissolved into chaos. Andrew broke for the car. Kevin’s phone rang and he wandered a few feet away to answer it. Neil went to thank Joan and get his camera back. Aaron damned all of them to hell and went after Andrew. And Nicky wrapped his arms around Erik’s neck and kissed him until they were both breathless.

When they didn’t come up for air or decency, Neil hastily escaped out the door. Andrew and Aaron were leaning against the car, talking quietly. Neil slowed down to watch them for a few moments. Aaron’s usual annoyed expression was gone, replaced by something almost warm as he spoke. Andrew’s own face was practically impassive except for a tiny tilt to his eyes that was a smile.

Neil thoughtlessly brought his camera back out and took a picture. The flash interrupted the moment, sending both men scowling at Neil, but Neil was hopeful that he had a physical record of that quiet moment.

“You’re going to blind someone with that,” Andrew said.

Neil made a face. “I like my camera,” he defended. “And you’re the one that gave it to me.”

“This entire last year was your fault,” Aaron told Andrew. “I’m going to get the rest of them before someone tries to arrest Nicky for lewd behavior. The last thing we need is to miss graduation because of a brawl at a bowling alley. Not even you could live that one down.” He pushed off the car and went back inside.

Neil took his spot next to Andrew. “Thanks for coming,” he said, and snapped a picture of Andrew watching him.

Andrew stole the camera and slid it into his pocket. “You’ve lost all photography privileges,” he said.

Neil grinned like a fiend. “I don’t take enough pictures of myself, do I?”

Andrew glowered.

Neil laughed. “It’s not like Kevin won’t figure it out when you start taking pictures with my camera.”

“Figure out what?” Kevin said, joining them by the car. He slung one arm around Neil’s shoulders. Neil obligingly leaned into him. His vow not to touch Neil hadn’t lasted very long. It wasn’t unexpected; Kevin lived too far away to waste what time they had together.

“He wants pictures of me,” Neil said, looking up at Kevin.

Kevin snorted. “I already knew that,” he said. “Why do you think he visited last month without you? He was -”

Andrew’s hand slapped over Kevin’s mouth.

Neil laughed again, muffling the sound in Kevin’s t-shirt so it wouldn’t attract attention from anyone else.

Andrew said, “My hatred for both of you grows by leaps and bounds every second I’m in your company.”

Neil smiled harder. “Can we ditch the rest of them?” he asked. “It’s not like there’s really enough room in the car for all of us. It’s a nice night. They could walk back to the dorms.”

“You can’t leave up behind! You love us,” Nicky said, Erik in tow.

Aaron looked at the group of them, and then at Andrew’s car. “Walking might be a better idea,” he said, memory of their ride from campus fresh in his dead eyes.

Kevin got in the front passenger seat without waiting for further debate. Neil followed him and crawled into his lap. Andrew looked at them like he was in pain, but it wasn’t much worse than being crammed into the bench in back with Erik, Nicky, and Aaron. Also, a chance to cuddle Kevin should never be passed up.

“Shouldn’t that be -” Erik sounded confused.

“Get in the car before I leave all of you behind,” Andrew said irritably, dropping into the driver’s seat.

The rest of them scrambled into the car.

Neil relaxed against Kevin. Kevin’s arms were wrapped loosely around his waist, and his heartbeat thudded steadily under his ear. Neil folded his own arms over Kevin’s. After they had pulled out of the parking lot, Andrew put his right hand on Neil’s knee while he drove.

“You know, Nicky, this really wasn’t that bad,” Neil admitted. He felt more relaxed than he had been all year.

“Shut up, Neil,” Kevin said.

“I knew it!” Nicky’s joyful whoop was too loud for the small vehicle. Aaron smacked him in the shoulder to show how much he appreciated his pained eardrums.

“No, seriously,” Neil squirmed around until he could see Nicky’s face. “We should do it again. This was fun.”

“It was, wasn’t it?” Erik said. “I was a little nervous going out with all of you, but I am glad we did this.”

“I would rather have walked barefoot over hot coals,” Aaron said.

“Aaron liked it, too,” Neil translated.

Aaron said, “No, I didn’t,” but Neil didn’t believe a word of it.

“Next time we take two cars,” Andrew said, putting an end to all debate and discussion, and making Nicky shine brighter than he had all evening. It was quite the feat. “And next time,” Andrew added, looking at Nicky through the rearview mirror. “You’re going to explain using small words that Kevin is not dating Aaron.”

Aaron looked murderous.

Kevin said, “Is that what was going on?”

Neil snickered. “They’re drinking buddies, not fuck buddies.”

Nicky said, “What? No, of course Kevin isn’t dating Aaron, they’d kill each other inside a week.” He turned to face Erik. “Sweet Sugar Pea?”

“If Kevin isn’t dating Aaron, then who - oh. Oh!” Erik said, staring from Neil and Kevin to Andrew and back. “Congratulations!”

“You are all dead to me,” Andrew told them, and drove them home.

**Author's Note:**

> I am fairly certain Nicky had an emergency conversation with Erik about being Really Supportive of Kevin's relationship with Andrew right before this outing. Unfortunately, either Nicky mispoke Andrew's name (sibling problems, amirite?) or Erik mixes the twins up all the time and he thought Aaron was the one dating Neil for years before Nicky corrected him and said it was Andrew. "Use smaller words, Nicky." Erik makes a note of it in his phone.


End file.
